Lettuce is the crop of choice for seasoned and novice gardeners alike. This vegetable is a fast growing plant that can be consumed at almost any stage of life and comes in hundreds of varieties. But like any other plant, lettuce goes through a life cycle. It starts as a seed that develops leaves, expels a flower stalk to be pollinated, and then produces seeds and dies. This natural process may as yet mystify some. While screwing lettuce is inevitable, you can do control of screwing lettuce to help extend your harvest.
Lettuce likes to grow in the garden during the cooler seasons, be it spring in the American Midwest or winter on the California coast. These vegetables quickly begin to screw in heat or temperatures above 80 degrees. By mimicking a cool season of the year with just a few tricks when it is actually the mild heat of summer, lettuce plants can extend their production phase and delay screwing.
It may seem difficult at first to get the lettuce to believe it is still in a cool season. However, by keeping the direct sun away from the leaves, or planting under the shelter of trees or in the shade of a building, you can trick these leafy greens into believing that it is not quite time to shoot.
Depending on the region, these greens may not be able to be grown later in the summer. As one of the early vegetable crops that prefer temperatures below 75 degrees, you may want to wait for temperatures to return to ideal. If it's 80 degrees or more during the heat of the day, these vegetables will simply no longer thrive. It is best to wait until fall before adding lettuce back to your garden.
What causes lettuce?
When the weather warms up, screwing lettuce is almost inevitable. Source: woodleywonderworks
Lettuce stud for trying to move on to the next step in its life cycle. These leafy vegetables will not rot because a gardener “gets it wrong” or kills their plants. Bolting is the natural course of the life cycle when the lettuce tries to reproduce.
When the lettuce flashes, it tries to bloom, which turns into seeds after pollination. Lettuce isn't so much on an iron schedule as it reacts to its surroundings to know when it's time to reproduce. As the days get longer, hotter, and drier (i.e. when summer starts) the lettuce will begin to bloom. Because pollinators are more active in the spring, when flowers are in bloom, salads have grown and adjusted their life cycle based on the time when they are most likely to be pollinated.
Signs of screwing
Gardeners can watch for early signs of bolts by keeping an eye on the center of the head of lettuce. The center will thicken and expand into a new center. This is where the flower stalk forms. It is possible to cut back this centerpiece to delay the screwing process, but the leaves may still taste a little bitter afterwards.
So slow down or stop screwing
Tips of screwed lettuce that forms flower buds. Source: Wayneandwax
If lettuce responds to physical reactions, you can extend the life of the lettuce and delay (not stop) the screwing process by trying to reproduce the factors it wants to live in. Shade it from sunlight and heat on hot days. On drier days, make sure the soil is moist, and on longer days provide shade so that the internal clock of the salads doesn't start the screwing process.
Extension of the growing season
Gardeners can mimic the ideal garden these green leaves want to live in, even in weather that would otherwise cause them to slip. By tricking the plants into believing they are living in a different season of the year, you can extend your harvest. The most important factor in growing lettuce during times of the year when daytime temperatures reach nearly 75 degrees is the provision of shade.
Under these circumstances, a shade cloth is practical and available in various designs. For growing lettuce in a warm season, a woven white or red cloth is ideal. The fabric ensures more air flow, keeps the plants cool and counteracts diseases. Make sure you avoid buying a shade fabric that is supposed to shade people or plants such as orchids, as these block out too much sun rays. A shade cloth that shades 30-60% of the sun's rays is ideal. Make sure it is installed high enough above the plants so that the leaves are not weighed down. This type of fabric is great for summer as it lowers the temperature the lettuce grows in while maintaining moisture.
Bolt-resistant varieties
You're not the only gardener battling the heat and trying to get your leafy vegetables to grow even in bad weather. Many new varieties have been developed over the years to be screw-resistant plants. This means that while the plant will eventually clear a flower stalk and complete its life cycle, that process will be delayed to help you extend your lettuce harvest. Some of these varieties are:
- Sparx (Romaine)
- Salvius (Romaine)
- Starfighter (green leaf)
- New red fire (red leaf)
These seeds may be a little hard to find at first (try online vendors like Jonnys), but it's worth the search as they will extend your growing season for what many gardeners call their favorite crop.
Screw connection options
Once a lettuce plant is screwed, the world doesn't end anymore! There are several different ways you can handle your lettuce plant. Lettuce can provide a range of beautiful flowers once they slip, and these flowers can attract pollinators into your garden to pollinate other plants that you grow nearby. If you need the garden space, then grown plants can be safely fed to pets like guinea pigs or rabbits. You can even wait for aphids to appear on the plant's delicate leaves to pull them off. Use them as a cover crop to protect nearby plants.
And one of the most important uses for bolting lettuce plants is collecting seeds for the following year! Many home gardeners (and farmers too!) Love to keep their own seeds for the following year or to trade with other growers. This is an age old practice and a wonderful way to grow plants that are adapted to your growing location. Keep in mind that the plants you receive the following year will most likely be slightly different when growing a hybrid. To properly protect the seeds, let the lettuce plants continue to grow and give the seeds energy throughout the summer. Place a small mesh bag around the seed head to collect it and prevent it from being carried away by the wind.
frequently asked Questions
After flowering, the leaves are more bitter, although technically they are still edible. Source: Fotofarmer
Q: is it safe to eat salad?
A: Salad is safe to eat even though the taste is more bitter than usual.
Q: Will the lettuce grow back?
A: If the conditions are right, screwed lettuce will grow back when cut on the base. If the summer is too hot, the entire plant can die, but in cooler temperatures it can sprout again and continue producing.
Q: What to do with lettuce when screwed up?
A: Breeders have several options when lettuce plants rot, flowers can be used to attract pollinators, they can be used as trap fruit, on pets that can eat leafy greens (chickens or rabbits), or even kept for seeds.
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